Air Force Spokesman Vice Marshall Hadi Tjahjanto told Kyodo News they "visually" spotted the oil slicks about 105 nautical miles east of Belitung Island off the eastern coast of Sumatra Island.
"We haven't been able to confirm, however, whether it was the fuel of the AirAsia aircraft," Hadi said.
He also said Indonesian warships had checked reports from an Australian plane and an Australian ship helping to search for the missing plane that they spotted some objects in the sea between Belitung and Borneo Island.
"We found nothing," the military officer said.
Flight QZ8501, which took off from Surabaya at 5:36 a.m. Sunday, was declared missing at 7:55 a.m. The pilot last made contact with air traffic control at 6:12 a.m. and no distress signal was sent.
Search efforts had resumed early Monday for the jetliner that went missing over the Java Sea while heading from Surabaya, capital of Indonesia's East Java Province, to Singapore with 162 people aboard.
National Search and Rescue Agency Chief Vice Marshall Bambang Soelistyo told an earlier press conference that the search efforts were mostly focused on the Bangka Belitung Islands and Singkep Island, both off the western coast of Sumatra Island, Straits Karimata, between Sumatra and Borneo Island, and the western part of Borneo.
Sixteen vessels, five warships, a minesweeping ship and dozens of rigid boats, as well as five planes and two Super Puma helicopters from various institutions including the military were dispatched to the area, Soelistyo said.
Security clearances have also been issued for Singapore and Malaysia to send their vessels and Hercules planes there, he added.
Flight QZ8501, an Airbus A320-200, had been scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 8:30 a.m. Sunday Singapore time, which is one hour ahead of Surabaya time.
Shortly before communication was lost, the pilot had requested to fly at a higher altitude to avoid bad weather.
When radar contact was lost, the plane was flying between the city of Pontianak in West Kalimantan Province on Borneo, about 1,180 kilometers of Surabaya, and Tanjung Pandan in Bangka-Belitung Islands Province, near Sumatra, about 400 km away.
"If the plane had crashed on land, it would be easier to find than if it had plunged under the water," Soelistyo said.
He said the plane's last coordinates at the time when it lost contact with air traffic control, however, indicate it might have crashed into the sea.
"And if it plunged into the sea, it might be at the bottom of the sea," he added.
According to the air force officer, if it did crash into the sea and is resting on the bottom, Indonesia does not have the means to retrieve it.
"That's why, through our foreign minister, we have contacted other countries -- the United Kingdom, France and the United States, which have so far offered help -- to borrow locators," he said.
As rainy season is under way in Indonesia, another challenge the rescuers are facing now is the weather, which is bad in some areas, particularly at sea.
The 155 passengers consist of 138 adults, 16 children and one infant.
By nationality, 149 of the passengers are Indonesian, with the six others being a Singaporean, a Malaysian, a Briton and three South Koreans, the statement said. The plane had an Indonesian captain, a French co-pilot and five cabin members.
According to the airline, the plane underwent a scheduled maintenance Nov. 16 and the pilot had a total of 6,100 flying hours and the first officer 2,275 flying hours.
Having also affiliates in the Philippines and Thailand, AirAsia Group is the largest low-cost carrier in Asia in terms of fleet size and the number of passengers carried.
The airline has been named the World's Best Low Cost Airline in the annual World Airline Survey by Skytrax for five consecutive years from 2009-2013 and the World's Leading Low Cost Airline at the 2013 World Travel Awards.
AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes told reporters in Jakarta on Monday the group has carried 220 million passengers in 13 years and had no fatalities.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
